Zinc Group -

chicago1234

Ultimate Credit Services went into administration in 2009 – but one of the directors of that company has set up another debt collection agency (along with some other people) called the Zinc Group – and many of the letters they send out are headed Zinc Collections. They are effectively all part of and connected to a company called Complete Credit Consultancy. All of this is confusing and makes it more difficult for those being contacted by this company to know who it is they are dealing with. Zinc are based in and operate out of Glasgow and Complete Credit Consultancy is registered at an address in Stratford on Avon – though I understand that this is simply a registered address and no one from this company actually operates from there. So the people calling and writing to members of the public are Glasgow based.

I have had experience of these companies harassing my family for debts which they do not owe. They are in my opinion a very dodgy outfit and having a look through various websites suggest that they may have upset many people. I believe that they break many of the Office of Fair Trading guidelines, but appear not too worried – after all, these guidelines have no legal status – i.e. they are not (necessarily) breaking the law by not following these guidelines and breaching these guidelines can only really be used to revoke their operating licence – this would appear at first to a major deterrent for debt collection agencies not to transgress these guidelines. But, it is often difficult to prove that they have been breached (these people know every trick in the book) and in any case I believe that last year only two debt collection agencies actually lost their operating licence. A tiny amount when you consider that these guidelines are widely flaunted and broken.

Most people being chased by debt collection agencies probably do genuinely owe money. But I have evidence that Zinc chase people who are innocent and do not owe debt. I don’t know if they do this to try and flush out the real debtor (should that be a relative of the innocent party) or if they simply try to harass people into paying in order to bring an end to their torment. As it stands, the law does not appear to adequately protect people from companies such as Zinc. By challenging their behaviour in these forums it may be possible to build up support to have them properly dealt with. The current law and regulation can work sometimes – but it needs people who are determined to bring a case that will stand.

Please post a reply if you or anyone you know has had problems with this company.

DarkConvict

As in the other post, Zinc are not on the ICO list of data controllers. And as such should not be managing personal data - http://www.ico.gov.uk/ESDWebPages/search.asp

chicago1234

The Zinc Collections Experience

Ultimate Credit Services went into administration in 2009 – but one of the directors of that company has set up another debt collection agency (along with some other people) called the Zinc Group – and many of the letters they send out are headed Zinc Collections. They are effectively all part of and connected to a company called Complete Credit Consultancy. All of this is confusing and makes it more difficult for those being contacted by this company to know who it is they are dealing with. Zinc are based in and operate out of Glasgow and Complete Credit Consultancy is registered at an address in Stratford on Avon – though I understand that this is simply a registered address and no one from this company actually operates from there. So the people calling and writing to members of the public are Glasgow based.

I have had experience of these companies harassing my family for debts which they do not owe. I believe that they break many of the Office of Fair Trading guidelines, but appear not too worried – after all, these guidelines have no legal status – i.e. they are not (necessarily) breaking the law by not following these guidelines and breaching these guidelines can only really be used to revoke their operating licence – this would appear at first to a major deterrent for debt collection agencies not to transgress these guidelines. But, it is often difficult to prove that they have been breached (these people know every trick in the book) and in any case I believe that last year only two debt collection agencies actually lost their operating licence. A tiny amount when you consider that these guidelines are widely flaunted and broken.

Most people being chased by debt collection agencies probably do genuinely owe money. But sometimes innocent people are targetted - this it what Zinc did to us and we do not owe anyone any debt. I don’t know if this is a genuine error or if they do this to try and flush out the real debtor (should that be a relative of the innocent party) or if they simply try to harass people into paying in order to bring an end to their torment. As it stands, the law does not appear to adequately protect people from companies such as Zinc. By challenging their behaviour in these forums it may be possible to build up support to have them properly dealt with. The current law and regulation can work sometimes – but it needs people who are determined to bring a case that will stand.

Please post a reply if you or anyone you know has had problems with this company.

chicago1234

Thanks for your info regarding Zinc and the ICO list - but I have just checked and Complete Credit Consultancy (who owns Zinc Collections) are on the register - so they are covered there.

sueturnersmith

My husband and I had three letters from Zinc Collections today for three different 'debts'. My husband's were both for the Pursuers: 'Choice', totalling nearly £2000, and mine was for the Pursuers: 'Anglian Windows' for over £5000 - I have never had dealings with Anglian Windows, and our double glazing was installed some time before we moved here, eleven years ago!

All the letters say that 'It would appear from our in depth desktop investigation into your financial position that you have access to sufficient funds to repay this outstanding amount' - (We don't! - but since these are not our debts, we wouldn't pay them anyway!) They have given us 72 hours to pay before they 'send the lads round'.

What would you advise I do about this?

sueturnersmith

After an online search, it seems that 'Choice', who Zinc Collections are saying are the pursuers in my husband's case, are an online catalogue shop - he has never used them!

It seems that Zinc Collections are a scam, and unless people advise otherwise, we will ignore all communications from them!

chicago1234

Also - in regard to Zinc you should tell them that you do not owe the money and ask for "proof of debt" which in effect is a copy of your signed agreement of the credit agreement.

This is likley to be a drwan out affair for you but if you do not owe the monet then stick with it - I will revisit this site to see how you are getting on and to see if I can offer any more info to help you.

fermi

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/forum-faqs

I posted a company director's name and address but it's gone, why?

Forum users should not post their or anyone else's personal details (full names, email addresses, home addresses or telephone numbers) on the forum or send them via PM (private message). This includes personal details found on public lookup sites such as Whois.com and Companies House.